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Thank you for your thoughts.
I have posted them, sans your name, in my blog along with other nameless feedback on my blog.
When I campaigned for the School Board I was open to, but reluctant to, selling Central to Edison. What I wanted to do was work with the Charter School and its parents to assure that they would feel comfortable sending their children to the ISD 709 schools. Instead our school board chose to wage internecine warfare and Edison and its plans became an afterthought even though, according to the story in today’s DNT, Edison made an offer of $10 million for Central which was never brought to the attention of the School Board.
I find that very troubling as I anticipated fiscal difficulties this year which have more than come to pass. These difficulties were built into the financing of the Long Range Facilities Plan which among many things grossly overvalued the potential sale’s price of multiple properties that we hoped would help us finance Red Plan bonding. In addition, we spent down a $20 million reserve fund and negotiated too generous contracts with staff to avoid additional controversies. We also gutted the Curriculum Department leading to last year’s disciplining by the Minnesota Department of Education for failing to keep our courses aligned. These things multiplied through the Dixon years. Worse still has been the laying off of teachers (and other staff) and the resultant increase in class sizes which probably accounted for Dr. Dixon’s departure from Duluth. These were all the unintended byproducts of diverting General Fund dollars to Red Plan building bonds. This has left us in fiscal disrepair. Today we board members are receiving email from parents alarmed at the prospect of future budget cuts that would further reduce our support staff.
I agree with you that under less dire circumstances holding onto the Central property would make sense. But the goldmine you suggest it could become at the end of some theoretical rainbow is too theoretical for me. Our advisers tell us that we will almost certainly have to either deduct the estimated $2 million dollar demolition of New Central from our price or tear the building down ourselves in order to sell it. That’s $2 million we don’t have. In the meantime we have to maintain New Central and heat it in the winter. That has been costing us $170,000 each year. Multiply that times six years as a vacated building and you can see what a drag it is on our finances. That’s two teacher’s worth of salary each year.
This school district spent a lot of money in the late 1960’s to develop the rocky Central site for utilities. I always thought the school’s location perched over Duluth and the greatest body of fresh water on Earth was emblematic of the priority that public education held for our community. Now the Red Plan buildings have taken its place…..buildings that hold a much smaller enrollment than our Red Plan demographers told us to prepare for.
We are hemorrhaging students still. Our enrollment is the smallest it has been for nearly 100 years. Ridding ourselves of what has become an albatross as quickly as possible may allow us to staunch the bleeding. By good fortune the series of offers made to us previously have been surpassed by the most generous offer yet – half a million over our current demand.
It is apparently being offered to us because Edison views the sale as a viable alternative to the site they currently have under development. Edison’s leaders say it is being made to us (and made known to the public) as a good faith effort to help out our struggling School District. I take them at their word. Even if I didn’t this is an offer that is too good to pass up by my calculation.
As you probably know I was an early supporter of Edison as one more choice for families. What appealed to me was the prospect that we could share their experience and bring their best practices back to the Duluth Schools. I have always resented the sale’s pitch that Edison and 709 would be in competition with each other. It’s been almost 20 years since their experiment began. We can debate whether their experiment has proven superior to the Duluth School District’s efforts but what is incontestable is that they have developed a devoted clientele of happy families.
I am tired of fighting with Edison. Yes, I am chagrined that the Central site may fall to Edison because of our District’s self inflicted wounds. On the other hand, I think this show of good will on Edison’s part could be the beginning of some seriously needed healing. My vote will be cast to begin the new educational era that the Red Plan was intended to bring about. The Bible says something about beating our swords into plowshares. I’ve always liked that imagery.
Sincerely,
Harry Welty
